


Mutual

by Chash



Series: Followers [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hollywood, F/M, Social Media
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-19 01:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9411845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chash/pseuds/Chash
Summary: As acts of rebellion go, Clarke knows that getting a tumblr is both minor and pathetic. But it's her secret, her own tiny, online space where no one knows she's Clarke Griffin, Hollywood A-lister. She's just some nobody with like five followers and opinions no one cares about.And then she makes a friend.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wanttobeatree](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanttobeatree/gifts).



As rebellions go, Clarke realizes hers is a little lacking. _Rebellion_ is, in fact, too strong a word for it. It's a small, petulant, meaningless act of very slight defiance.

She gets a tumblr.

Or, rather, another tumblr. She already has clarke-griffin-official, but she doesn't even run that. Raven maintains all her social media, and she's the one who decides what the CGO tumblr should reblog, produces its weird original content, and answers about 90% of the questions it gets, except when she finds a question she thinks Clarke's actually interested in. So it's not like that really feels like _her_ tumblr. 

And it's not like she loves tumblr, as a platform. She doesn't really care much about it specifically. It's just that her online persona has been so carefully cultivated for her whole life, she wants to actually just--take advantage of what the internet has to offer, in terms of anonymity. But she doesn't want to join any discussion forums, she wouldn't know what to post on twitter, and creating an entire fake Facebook identity seems like too much work, so tumblr it is.

It feels like a much bigger deal than it is. She signs up for a dummy gmail account, uses that to create a tumblr, and it's this huge rush of freedom and defiance, and then she feels like an idiot. She's twenty four years old. She should not feel this proud of herself for having her own blog.

At the same time, she started acting when she was eight, and her entire life has been carefully and deliberately sculpted since then. She's had input--she put her foot down about being openly bisexual when she was seventeen, and she was the one who saw and actually took to heart criticisms about her feminism being white feminism when she talked about equal pay and opportunities--but every public thing she's ever said that she can remember has gone through at least five people before she's been allowed to say it.

 _I guess I'm on tumblr now_ , she posts, and then she has to figure out where to go from there. 

Her current project is an HBO series based on the _Seraphina_ books, so that's her first thought for what to look for. Clarke loves the role--a queer princess who seems frivolous at first glance but turns out to be shrewd and sharp who's probably going to end up in a poly relationship is so up her alley it's like the alley was made for her--but it's not like she really wants to follow any of the fandom blogs she sees Raven checking. Not only is it a little weird and invasive, but she's not joining tumblr to get _more_ involved in her work life.

What she finds is, instead, academic blogs. Or, not really _academic_. Fact blogs, maybe. Blogs where people share fun trivia on a variety of subjects, sometimes in all caps, sometimes in response to asks, sometimes just because they like it, apparently.

Clarke's education was perfunctory. She had tutors, and those tutors taught her enough to complete her GED and not much more. No one _minded_ that she was academically curious and liked reading on her own time, but very little effort was put into fostering that in her, and her knowledge feels like a patchwork quilt that's missing a lot of pieces. And this seems like a fun way to fill those gaps in.

So it really is the saddest, least rebellious rebellion of all time, because all she's doing is secretly reading tumblr posts about obscure facts and not telling anyone about it.

She could have at least gotten a tattoo or something.

She finds hollywood-histories about two weeks into her tumblr existence, and clicks through assuming it's going to be a blog about the history of the show business industry, which she's definitely into. But, as it turns out, it's just someone who watches a bunch of costume dramas and talks about what's accurate, what's inaccurate, and what cool actual history the movies missed out on. They also cover fantasy media set it an indeterminate past time period and talks about which decisions make sense and which don't. Clarke follows immediately, and it becomes one of her favorite tumblrs in no time. Whoever runs it is clearly smart and passionate, with a good voice for the material and wry, self-deprecating sense of humor.

They go by _B_ , and their profile just says they're a grad student. They'll sometimes answer asks about their personal tumblr or other demographic information, and but just to say they don't want to share that stuff and the blog isn't really about them, as a person.

So Clarke tries not to wonder about it either.

Her own contributions to tumblr are fairly minimal. She doesn't know how to gain followers, nor does she really care about doing so, but occasionally she has something to contribute to a post and adds her own commentary, and when she does another blog will sometimes pick it up, and that gets other people following her. Not in great droves or anything, but a scattered number of real people seem to be interested in her, and she follows them back out of politeness.

And then hollywood-histories gets an ask about body hair.

 **Anonymous** said:  
_Hey B, love the blog, thanks for doing what you do. Just a quick question: what's your opinion on the lack of body hair on women in period dramas? Does it take you out of the story?_

 **hollywood-histories** :  
_Short answer, not really._

_Long answer, it's complicated. On the one hand, yeah, it's not realistic. On the other hand, it's the kind of unrealistic that makes stuff more realistic for us. We have certain expectations about what people look like, and if all your female characters are really hairy when they're naked, it's going to be distracting. And before I get anons about that, I'm not saying that's a good thing. But if you want more realistic representations of women's bodies, you want to get that across the board. And, for the record (and I don't mean this in a not-all-men way, seriously), male actors are also a lot less hairy than they should be in costume dramas too, and everyone's teeth are better._

_We suspend disbelief in all kinds of ways, and it's good to talk about the ways a lot of the choices that filmmakers make for "practical" reasons also happen to coincide with modern standards of beauty and gross patriarchy shit, but that doesn't mean some of those choices don't also make sense. I wouldn't be mad if we saw more body hair on women in period works, but that's not the real issue. The real issue is that "realism" is the go-to excuse for violence against women and lack of minority characters, even though there's so much unrealistic shit that's put in to make things more palatable for modern audiences and no one objects to it._

It's a decent answer, and one Clarke largely agrees with, but she finds herself hitting reblog and adding her own comment anyway, mostly because she's had to deal with this shit personally, and she does have some insight. And she thinks hollywood-histories would be interested.

She maybe wants to be interesting.

 **touched-the-sky** reblogged:  
_In terms of practicality, remember that female actresses have to deal with beauty standards all the time, and depending on what they're doing aside from their current project, they might not want to maintain visible body hair. On a movie shoot, it's probably easier, but if you're a woman on Game of Thrones etc, you're probably doing other things while you film, including photoshoots and red carpet events, and for all of those you don't want to be worrying about keeping natural hair on your body. Which, like you said, is about our current beauty standards, so if you want more realism in how women look in historical dramas, you're probably better off starting with fighting for more realism in how women look now._

 **hollywood-histories** reblogged:  
_**if you want more realism in how women look in historical dramas, you're probably better off starting with fighting for more realism in how women look now**_

 _Pulling that and bolding for accuracy. The whole response is good, though, and not something I really thought about, so keep that in mind too. No one wants to sit in makeup for an hour getting hair stuck to their legs. Unless you do, in which case, whatever, have fun with that. Embrace your kinks. But I don't blame anyone for not being into that_.

The response makes sends a little thrill through her, and she picks up a few more followers because of the boost. She scrutinizes each one, curious if they might be B on their main account, but there's nothing that seems encouraging in that regard.

She follows all of them back and forgets about the incident, at least until the next week, when she's at an industry event and ends up in an argument about the gritty realism trend. She wins it so hard that she's giddy with victory, as well as still a little frustrated that the whole thing even happened, and she really, really wants to tell someone all about it.

When she gets home and is alone again, she pulls up a tumblr message, debates for a few seconds before she starts typing. B can just ignore it, if they want. She just needs to vent to _someone_ , and she can't help feeling like B will appreciate it. Her mother would say she was being indiscreet, and Raven, as great as she is, is technically an employee and has a life of her own.

And, honestly, she _really_ wants to tell B.

 **touched-the-sky** : Okay look I know you don't know me  
You can just ignore this message, I won't be offended  
But I was at a party tonight and ended up getting in a fight about sexual assault in prestige TV  
And don't get me wrong I wanted to strangle the guy  
BUT we got to a point in the conversation where I just started listing off other "realistic" things that aren't in those shows and he was finally like  
"Well no one wants to see that"  
And I just looked at him until he realized what he said  
And he pretended he got a text and had to leave  
It was awesome, and I thought you'd appreciate that  
Sorry if that's weird

She catches up with the posts that have been made since she last looked at tumblr and then goes to do something else instead; the sight of the message at the corner of her screen makes her feel itchy, and it's not like staring at it is going to do any good.

It's her first experience with tumblr messages, so she's not expecting the odd notification sound, and it startles her when it pops out of the speakers while she's reading her script for tomorrow's scenes. She frowns, confused, as the noise keeps popping up, and it only belatedly occurs to her that it might be tumblr, and her heart actually skips a beat when she sees she's getting messages back from hollywood-histories.

 **hollywood-histories** : wow  
okay, that's amazing  
how obvious was the fake text?

 **touched-the-sky** : REALLY obvious  
It was a work party, so this was an older guy  
Clearly not great with technology  
He just pulled out his phone with an completely black screen and was like  
I have a text  
It's important

 **hollywood-histories** : I have to go, my planet needs me  
I do appreciate hearing that, thanks  
also, you go to some weird parties  
no offense  
but I've never been at a work function where anyone ended up accidentally saying they liked the rape scenes on game of thrones

 **touched-the-sky** : Yeah, brag about it  
I work with some real assholes

 **hollywood-histories** : sorry about that  
but thanks for sharing  
definitely appreciated  
keep fighting the good fight

It becomes a thing by accident. Clarke doesn't _mean_ to start talking to B, but she keeps having stories she thinks they'll appreciate, but it's not just that. 

Clarke is, she knows, a relatively boring Hollywood type, especially for a child star. She's pretty sure she's supposed to be going out and getting drunk and doing drugs, but she just doesn't have much interest in that, not in a public way.

She prefers going out with small groups of friends or drinking at home and watching Netflix, which is how she ends up starting to talk to hollywood-histories regularly. 

**touched-the-sky** : I'm watching Reign on Netflix rn and I don't understand how you haven't torn this show apart

 **hollywood-histories** : honestly I wouldn't even know where to start  
what scale do you use to grade it?  
if it's not trying, does it matter that it's failing?  
I tried writing a post about the pilot once and ended up having an existential crisis

 **touched-the-sky** : Sorry, I didn't know I was bringing up painful memories

 **hollywood-histories** : rubbing my failures in my face  
how far are you? what's it doing? should I catch up?

And just like that, they're suddenly talking regularly. B tells her what they're watching for their upcoming articles, and Clarke moves from Reign to The Crown, which is apparently too recent history to interest B, but they still want to hear about it. It's nice, having a TV buddy, and even nicer having someone who values her opinions and thoughts completely outside of her career or appearance.

They've been talking for a month when she gets a message and a follow from someone named bb-hate, which she assumes is some sort of weird hate blog that followed her by mistake, until she actually sees the message: hey, it's B, I figured I should just follow you from my secret identity.

She hadn't really been thinking much, about the person B actually _was_ , in tumblr terms. It's not like she knows enough people to make guesses.

But she'd been wondering about, well-- _them_. And when she clicks into the profile, there's the information she's been looking for: _Bellamy, California, 28. Cis, pan, mixed race, he/him pronouns. Someone is wrong on the internet._

 **touched-the-sky** : Wow  
This is a lot to process  
You have a name and a gender

 **bb-hate** : most people do  
not you, though

Clarke's profile is blank, and she hadn't really thought about it before. She hadn't thought that while she was wondering about B--about Bellamy--he might be wondering about her too.

And even if she can't tell him the truth, she can tell him something.

 **touched-the-sky** : Marie  
Also California  
24, cis, bi, white, she/her.

 **bb-hate** : cool  
so, uh  
nice to meet you?

 **touched-the-sky** : Nice to meet you too  
I'm starting a 30 Rock rewatch

 **bb-hate** : good call  
I'm going to watch Troy  
so pray for me

 **touched-the-sky** : I can't believe you haven't already

 **bb-hate** : fine, correction  
I'm going to watch Troy sober  
and try to write about it

 **touched-the-sky** : Oh yeah  
You're going to die  
But I'm looking forward to the article

 **bb-hate** : as long as I don't die in vain  
it's all worth it for the page views

 **touched-the-sky** : You don't have ads  
You don't get revenue  
Do you even track page views?

 **bb-hate** : it's the principle of the thing

 **touched-the-sky** : Sure it is

Talking to Bellamy makes her feel guiltier than talking to B did. Apparently being mutuals with his real account is a higher level of friendship, and on the one hand, she's thrilled about it. He drops casual mentions of his life into conversation now, references to his classes, his sister, his friends, his part-time retail job. And Clarke references those things too, but she's aware, all the time, of how careful she's being. She can tell him things, but she can't tell him _everything_. He watches her show, and she knows it; he reblogs gifsets sometimes, and he brings it up on the hollywood-histories account as an example. Usually a positive one.

There's something about it that makes her squirm, the knowledge that he's watching her every week, that Glisselda is his favorite character. 

It's a lot to think about, and it just gets worse when she sees him reblog something from her official account. It's a gifset of her talking about what she's hoping for in season three, and he's tagged it: _#she always seems pretty cool #I'm glad she ships the OT3 too_

It feels dangerous to like the post, like Raven will somehow figure out she's the source and rat her out, but even if Raven _did_ figure out she had her own tumblr, Clarke can't imagine she'd tell anyone.

Besides, she wants to save the knowledge that Bellamy thinks she's _pretty cool_. Because, as it turns out, Bellamy not only lives in California, but in LA, and he actually interacts with a decent number of celebrities because of his job. Clarke still doesn't know exactly where he works, but she knows he's part time with weird hours at convenience store, and it's apparently the convenience store where celebrities come at odd hours to get supplies. And he's always fairly polite about it, never trashes anyone, and doesn't really gossip. The first time he mentioned it, it was pretty casual-- _I saw a Jonas brother today, but I don't know which one, and I really don't want trying to figure it out to be in my search history, which one's the ugly one?_ \--and she actually believes he's not trying to brag. It's just another part of his life that he doesn't mind talking about.

And Clarke kind of can't stop thinking about it. Not just the guilt of not telling him who she really is, but the fact that he's local enough she might run into him, that if she goes to the right convenience store at the right time, she might just find him.

Assuming he's telling the truth. He could, of course, be full of shit; it's possible everything he's ever said about everything is a lie. But Clarke somehow never doubts that he's telling her the truth about himself, even though it would make her feel better about her own deceptions. Just--all his stuff is so consistent and mundane, and somehow _Joel McHale knocked over a bunch of soda cans but he helped me pick them up so we're cool_ doesn't feel like a lie anyone would just _make up_.

So Bellamy's probably legit, and Clarke's as legit as she can be. She tells him things that are true, just not the _whole_ truth. She tells him about funny things that happen at work and about arguments she has with her mother. She tells him when people piss her off and when things go well. He knows her better than most of her costars, but it's still this huge thing that he _should_ know.

He still thinks her name is _Marie_.

When she meets him, of course she doesn't know about it. But--okay, if she's honest, she hopes it's him. Just a little bit.

She's not looking for him, not even a little; it's raining and her driver is stuck in traffic, so she's just looking for somewhere dry she can get an umbrella and ideally a hot drink, so she ducks into a corner store near her agent's office for shelter.

The guy behind the desk is very, very attractive, all messy black hair and slightly amused expression, eyebrows raised.

"Hi," he says. "Can I help you?"

"Umbrellas?"

"Stand in the back," he says, and then apparently feels bad for her, because he comes out from behind the counter. "Right this way." He glances behind his shoulder, and Clarke notes that he has freckles. Like, a lot of freckles.

He could be Bellamy, right? Anything is possible.

"I'm resisting the urge to ask if it's really coming down out there, but that really feels like what I should be saying. Social conditioning."

"I can confirm it's really coming down out there."

"I knew it." He gestures to a stand. "All the umbrellas you can eat."

"How many umbrellas do people usually eat?"

"You know, that's the kind of thing I don't ask, as a professional. What my customers do with their umbrellas in the privacy of their own home is their business."

Clarke has to smile. "I'm glad this isn't the kind of establishment that judges people's umbrella habits."

"Safe space," the guy agrees. "Anything else?"

"Do you have hot drinks?"

"Not very good ones, but if you're desperate we have shitty coffee and Lipton tea."

"You're not a very good salesman," she says, but she's smiling.

"It's really cheap, so at least there's that. You get what you pay for. You can also take your new umbrella to the coffee shop down the street."

"Which do you recommend?"

He makes a show of thinking it over. "How hard is it raining?"

Her laugh surprises her. He's really cute. "I'll risk it."

It's a stupid thing to do, but she drinks the coffee there, watching the cute employee fooling around on his phone and waiting for her ride to show up, and when she gets home, she can't help asking the question.

 **touched-the-sky** : Any celebrities today?

 **bb-hate** : Clarke Griffin

Clarke's heart lodges in her throat, and her hands are actually shaking a little.

 **touched-the-sky** : From the dragon show, right?

 **bb-hate** : yeah  
she got caught in the rain and needed an umbrella  
I was incredibly cool about it  
I'm pretty sure she has no idea I've got a huge thing for her

 **touched-the-sky** : Definitely not  
I'm sure you were very subtle

 **bb-hate** : your sarcasm is not appreciated  
I'm great with celebrities  
she stuck around to drink her coffee so I couldn't have been that bad  
do you watch that show?

 **touched-the-sky** : Not religiously

 **bb-hate** : I'm just saying, she's even hotter in person  
and she laughed at my shitty self-deprecating humor, so we're probably getting married

 **touched-the-sky** : I'm happy for you  
You know, usually you don't objectify the celebrities  
Is Clarke Griffin really hotter than a Jonas Brother?

 **bb-hate** : have you ever seen a picture of Clarke Griffin?  
or a Jonas Brother?  
seriously, no comparison  
but, yeah  
she seems cool  
my sister was really into her when she was trying to have a musical career  
and I saw all these interviews where she turned from, like  
privileged white girl who thought her bisexuality meant she was oppressed  
to actually informed feminist who cares about intersectionality  
and she's cute  
uh yeah anyway  
that was your Clarke Griffin aside  
how was your day?

The thing is, Clarke _knows_ she is an asshole if she goes back to the convenience store, especially if she goes when she knows Bellamy's working. Because this is, absolutely and without question, _Bellamy_. And not only does she know that, but she knows that he's a fan of hers, and thinks she's hotter in person, and he's been following her career since she thought singing was a good idea.

She's an asshole. Seriously, the biggest asshole.

It's not like she talks to him that much or anything. She just stops by the store, when she's in the area, and she'll talk to him. A little. Nothing big, barely more than greetings and, if she's feeling particularly daring, a question about where to find something, but it's enough to make her both even more guilty about not telling him the truth about herself and, well--

Fuck, she's into him. She's so stupidly into him. She was already, a little bit, in a tentative, internet way, but it wasn't like she really knew him. She couldn't imagine interacting with him in the real world, and now she is and--aside from the one thing--it feels so doable.

But she's still _Clarke Griffin_ , and he's still a grad student who works at a convenience store and runs a dorky tumblr and there's nothing _wrong_ with that, but the last time Clarke was in his store two people asked her for autographs and it's just--there's no good way to just _tell someone_ you're secretly a famous actress.

So, in desperation, she goes to Raven.

"I have a problem."

"Are you pregnant? Because you don't pay me enough to deal with that." She pauses. "But if you just need someone to talk to about your pregnancy, yeah, I'm here for you. Free of charge."

"Thanks," she says, smiling. "I'm not pregnant. I'm having internet problems."

"Reset your router."

"Not that kind of internet problem."

"Fuck, did you go on twitter? I told you not to go on twitter."

"Tumblr. But not--it's not what you think."

"Yeah, tumblr's not that bad." Raven considers her. "What'd you do on tumblr?"

"I made an account and made friends with this guy, and then I accidentally met him, and now I think I'm really into him. But--he doesn't know I'm me."

There's a long pause. "He doesn't know you're you how?" she finally asks. "Like--in what context?"

"He knows who Clarke Griffin is," she says. "He just doesn't know that the girl he's been talking to on tumblr is Clarke Griffin. I said my name was Marie."

"But you want to tell him."

"I'm asshole for not telling him, right?"

"I wouldn't go that far. Look, you're a big deal, okay? I know your mom thinks prestige HBO series is a downgrade from trying to make it as a pop star, but you're huge, and you're going to keep being huge, and if he's a good guy, he's going to get why you didn't tell him who you were. But I want to hear about how you accidentally met him."

"He works at a convenience store near Marcus's office. I went in to get out of the rain. I didn't know it was him, but then we were talking that night, and--he tells me about his celebrity encounters."

"That's getting a little dicier," she says. "Like--I'd get why you didn't tell me at first, but--how many times have you talked to him?"

"Just a handful," Clarke says. "Maybe five? And we don't, like-- _talk_. I just--it's nice to see him."

"And is he telling you how weird it is that Clarke Griffin is a regular at his convenience store?"

"He's mentioned it, yeah." She rubs her face. "Seriously, is that something you can just--tell someone? Surprise, I'm that actress you like?"

Raven's lip twitches. "He likes you, huh?"

"He said I was even hotter in person."

"Have you told him anything that he could sell to the tabloids if he turns out to be an asshole?"

Clarke thinks it over. "No, I don't think so. We don't really talk about the show. I've told him--nothing I'd be embarrassed about. Friend stuff."

"So tell him."

"That's it?"

"No offense, but you're clearly dying to. And I don't remember the last time you got laid, but I know it's been a while. So yeah. I'm rooting for you. What's the guy's tumblr?"

"You're going to stalk him?"

"Are you kidding? Of course I'm going to stalk him."

"It's bb-hate."

"You have to spell that," she says, and there's a pause after she does, Clarke assumes so that Raven can review Bellamy's tumblr. She goes on too, just to see if he's got anything incriminating on there, but it's all pretty standard Bellamy stuff. She's about to mention the Hollywood blog when Raven asks, "You know he follows your official tumblr, right?"

"Yeah, he reblogs stuff from there."

"And your Instagram."

"I didn't know that." She goes to lean over Raven's shoulder; it hadn't occurred to her to check Instagram, but there he is, Bellamy, with the same username, scowling at the camera, usually alone, but sometimes with a surly guy or pretty girl. "Yeah, that's him."

"No wonder you're into him. Neither of those is his significant other?"

"He says he's single."

Raven clicks a picture with all three, frowning. "Octavia and Miller?"

"Sister and best friend. Nothing suspicious there."

"Yeah, no offense, but you're definitely the most suspicious person in this scenario." She pauses. "Are you going to be heartbroken if he just likes you for being, you know, Clarke Griffin?"

"He definitely likes tumblr-me. I'm really sure."

"Okay, so, you know this guy, he thinks you're just his internet friend, but it turns out you're an actual celebrity he's into, and you want to make out. That's literally every nerd guy's fantasy." She pauses. "Not that he looks like much of a nerd guy. Seriously, none of my internet friends are that hot. You really lucked out."

Clarke has to smile. "I really did."

"Your mom's going to flip out."

"Oh yeah," she agrees. "But hopefully I have a boyfriend when she does."

Her first instinct is to tell him that night, when they're chatting on tumblr, but it feels like the kind of thing she should do in person, both because it feels like he's never going to believe her on tumblr and because she's hoping after he tells her, they're going to hook up, and it's going to be easier to do that if they're in the same place.

 **touched-the-sky** : Hey, are you working tomorrow?

 **bb-hate** : yeah 4-11  
why?

 **touched-the-sky** : I want to watch a shitty movie and it's not the same if I can't liveblog it at you

 **bb-hate** : always happy to contribute  
yeah I'm closing up the store so should be home by midnight  
if that's not too late for you

 **touched-the-sky** : Yeah, that's fine  
I can wait

It's the latest Clarke's ever visited the convenience store, and Bellamy's looking bored behind the counter when she arrives, but he straightens at the sound of the door and gives her a professional smile. He's definitely aware she's been coming more often, but he hasn't asked about it or anything. Presumably because it would be weird to ask a customer why she was a regular, and especially a celebrity. He's pretty good at acting normal around her; if not for the tumblr messages, she wouldn't even know he was a fan.

But he is, and he's her friend, so--yeah. Definitely time to come clean.

"Hi, need help finding anything?"

Clarke lets out a breath. "No, I just--I don't really like watching movies alone."

As she expected, his expression clouds. "Uh, okay. Sorry about that?" he tries.

"And it's not really the same doing it online, like--I like talking to you on tumblr, but I think it would be a lot more fun in person, you know? I bet you get really annoyed and yell at the TV and everything."

She can see his throat move as he swallows, and she tries a smile.

"I don't really know what the protocol is for revealing your secret internet identity, but--hi? I'm touched-the-sky on tumblr. I'm a big fan of yours."

"Marie?" he finally asks.

"My middle name. Clarke Marie Griffin. It was easy to remember."

"I--how?"

"Luck?" she asks. "I don't know, I liked your blog, I wanted to talk to you. Real life, I found you totally by accident." She worries her lip. "I was kind of looking, though. Just, you know. Paying a lot of attention to guys who worked at convenience stores."

He still mostly looks like he got hit in the face, but after a second he manages to shake his head and sort of recover. "Okay, so--what are you doing here?"

"Making friends?" she offers. But it's not true, of course. She glances around, makes sure the place really is empty. "No, scratch that. I really like you, so--"

He chokes, stares at her with open disbelief. "Wait, are you _asking me out_?"

"Yeah, that would probably would have been a better way to do this." She bites her lip. "Sorry if that's weird."

His laugh is bright and sudden and shocked. "Uh, yeah, it's incredibly weird. This is the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me." But he's grinning, delighted, and Clarke finds herself grinning back. "I didn't want to be an asshole about asking you where in California you lived or--anything. But I really wanted to know." He ducks his head. "Fuck. I really wasn't expecting this."

"Sorry I didn't tell you earlier. It wasn't supposed to be a thing. I just wanted--something for myself, I guess. Somewhere no one knew who I was and I could just--have fun."

"You know, when I think about Hollywood stars trying to live normal lives, tumblr's never been involved," he teases.

"Don't blame me for your lack of imagination."

He stares at her for a second, eyes full of wonder, and then he shakes his head. "Jesus. It really is you."

"That's why I came down. I was pretty sure you weren't going to believe me if I just told you online that I was Clarke Griffin."

"I barely believe you now." He glances at his phone, and then back up at her. "It's, uh--I'm pretty sure no one's going to know if I close up four minutes early, so--"

She watches as he slides out from behind the counter, switches off the open sign on the door, and then she sees him take a breath before he turns back to her, crosses the store, and then there he is, right in her personal space, looking down at her. Clarke's been single for over a year now, since she and Lexa broke up, and her heart speeds up at the way he's looking at her, warm and intense and close, and she finds herself leaning up before she's quite realized it.

"Clarke," he says, soft, and then the moment breaks when he laughs. "Shit, you're _Clarke Griffin_."

"Yeah, and we could be making out if you just got over it." She tugs on the front of his shirt. "I'm Clarke Griffin. You're Bellamy--whatever your last name is. Nice to meet you in person."

"Blake," he says. "Bellamy Blake." And then he leans down and kisses her, his mouth firm but soft, his stubble scraping against her cheeks, one big hand coming up to thread in her hair. Clarke finds her hands relaxing on his chest, sliding up his shirt to wrap around his neck, pressing closer, a soft noise escaping from her mouth at how perfect it feels.

"You should clean up," she murmurs, and he lets out a soft laugh and gives her another quicker kiss. 

"Wow. Smooth."

"You should clean up because I want to get out of here and make out with you on your couch. Or my couch. Or--I'm not picky. Somewhere more comfortable. Basically wherever you want."

"Probably your couch," he says, grinning at her. "You're rich, right? I bet your place is a lot nicer than mine."

"And no roommates," she points out. "Privacy."

He stares for another second, and then he's leaning in and they're kissing again, his lips hot and insistent on hers, and Clarke laughs and pulls back.

Well, after an appropriate amount of making out. She's got priorities.

"Seriously, how do I help you close up here so we can get out of here?"

He laughs. "You're going to help?"

"I think you're not realizing how much I want to make out with you."

He grins. "Well, you keep stopping me, so--"

She shoves him away, and he laughs and goes, grabbing a broom. "Sorry I'm not into making out in convenience stores."

"Yeah, I feel like that's a kink tabloids would be all over." He smiles, shakes his head. "Jesus. I can't believe you're here."

"Yeah, I can't either," she admits. "But I'm really glad I am."

* 

**Anonymous** asked:  
_will you go on a date with me?????? i love youuuuuuuu_

 **clarke-griffin-official** said:  
_Look, I really want to say Clarke would never go on a date with a random person from tumblr, but she's currently dating a random person from tumblr, so I guess the real moral of this story is that you should try again if she breaks up with her boyfriend, anon._

_But I wouldn't get your hopes up about that one. They're pretty serious._

_-R_

**Author's Note:**

> Bellamy POV [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9507350/chapters/22885761)!


End file.
